I am okay with them opening up the season in Australia. There are 162 games during the regular season, so I don't consider it that big of a deal two play a couple of games internationally to promote the sport. I think what the NFL is doing with London is a lot worse given they only have 16 games in their season.
If the Sox ever have their opener in Australia or another country I would probably make the trip.

Since these are official games, did the Dodgers and D-Backs have to finalize their 25-man rosters far before the other 28 teams? Do they go back to spring training after this, or are they done with the Cactus League for 2014?

I think its really cool that MLB is opening up in Australia. There are a surprising number of baseball fans in Australia, its a good way to recognize them. Australia is also increasingly sending players to the US, such as the great Grant Balfour.

On a side note, I read something a while back saying that there's a camp in Australia that teaches Australian teens to punt and placekick. Their sales pitch is "we'll teach you one skill from American football, and in exchange you might get a scholarship to a good school in America". So this could be just the start of the Australian invasion of US sports.

__________________"Hope...may be indulged in by those who have abundant resources...but its nature is to be extravagant, and those who go so far as to stake their all upon the venture see it in its true colors only when they are ruined."-- Thucydides

I would have rather they only added a warning track and bullpens to the cricket oval, and left it as is, with monster foul territory and impossible HR distances. Why not? It'd be similar to the Polo Grounds, kinda old school.

I do not like the fact that the new instant replay laws weren't in effect for these games. They said they'd take effect this season, but they omitted these 2 games. There's no reason for that. Was it just too late for the NY reviewers to stay up? Just dumb.

This was a history making series in many regards...

1. This was the earliest that the MLB season has ever begun, March 22.

2. This was the earliest time that the MLB season, or any MLB game, has ever begun: 3:30 am. And that was after the rain delay. The Japan games started later.

3. We're now in the longest in-season break since the 1981 strike. 8 days between official games. The break after 9/11 was shorter.

4. Game 6 of the 2013 World Series set the record for the oldest venue an MLB game was played in (every Fenway game set a new record). The very next MLB game set a new record. The Sidney Cricket Ground has existed since the 1800s.

That record would break with every new Fenway game, as it did with every new Comiskey game back in the day. From 1990-1992, the record wasn't broken. That may have been the longest time that the record stayed intact. The new mark due to SCG, however, may last forever.

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MRKARNO04-04-2005, 04:03 PM
I was a doubter, but maybe, just maybe we can win with pitching, defense and fundamentals.